let it snow la...

It's safe to say it's pre-winter now. temperature continue to drop to below 10 degrees. it'll be about 1 degree tonite. aiks...

but morning was beautiful, Eric n I went to e university to get a head start on e orientation program. well, actually it was Ben (our agent) who thought class starts today. haha. anyway, met a few people and toured around e uni. nice place, def a great place to study. many cafes and many libararies, too. i esp love looking at e ducks cruising along e Avon river and see the beautiful trees (though they're mostly botak now...haha)

went back to e mall to get a winter jacket for dear mr. eric again. haha. i really pity him though. he had to spend so much here coz he didn't buy 1st at m'sia. surprisingly, women's winter clothing are mostly reasonably cheap and pretty! haha. good for me. will wait to go shopping with Rebecca. hehe. shopping with guys just doesn't feel right coz u can't gossip dat much. hehe.
sms-ing is EXPENSIVE here, man! 20 cents for 1 msg, which after converting to ringgit is about 60 cents. haih. at least local calls are free. bad news is phone rental is super high too. they do have telecom here too, but dunno y, many ppl hates using it and prefers vodafone.

oh yeah, the Chapelle Corby case is really hot here. the kiwis n aussies support e girl 100% and critisizes e indonesian government for it. n i dun think kiwis will want to go to Bali for a holiday now... even my host mum thinks badly of indonesia now. wow.

ok. so much of political issues. give me headache nia. need more rest. hehe.

it's so chilly here!!!

The weather's getting colder and colder each day. brrrr... yeah so cold that i'm wearing gloves now while typing this. haha.

anyway, went to the mall just now with Eric and his roomate, Jien (i think) who's also from malaysia. haha. what a coincidence. nice guy but doesn't speak chinese. poor Eric, he searched the whole Westfield mall for a warm jacket but couldn't get one that he wanted. maybe it's coz of the price here...things here are damn expensive, man. and after converting them into ringgit, the price is really unbearable. moral of the story: nvr shop in NZ, only if truly necessary. he bought a pair of adidas sport shoes, but dun think he can stand the cold here without a good jacket. hehe

Ben (our agent) will be taking us to the uni for a tour tomorrow. quite excited to go inside the uni. hehe. it seems that many malaysians have also chosen to study here. haha. not too bad. was thinking whether it will be a wise choice to choose flatting next year. Jien asked if i was interested in flatting with him and a few other people next year... hmm maybe it's still a lil early to think about that right now. oh yeah, my first ride on the Metro here today from the mall back to my home. it was quite frightening if there's no one with you. but thank God Eric and Jien sent me home 1st coz it gets dark here really early, which is around 530pm. bleh. mall closes early every sunday too, around 6pm. no fun!

still miss home, family and friends occasionally, but excited bout what i'll experience here also. hehe. hope for the best tomorrow. =P

a new lifein a different place

kia ora! well, that's supposed to be a greeting in maori language, if i'm not mistaken. haha!

anyway, i've arrived safely and in 1 piece (thank God) in Christchurch, New Zealand. phew. It's really really cold here (esp for a malaysian la...) It's autumn now, gonna be winter next week though. bad news is the weather here is often rapid n not steady. heh. dunno y. anyway i bought tons of winter clothing to keep myself warm during these 3 cold months.

i'm currently staying with a homestay family for at least 2 months 1st. then, i'll make a decision whether to stay or move to a hall of residence (basically a hostel in e uni). i'm fortunate to have a friend going with me to this foreign land... hehe. name's Eric, from Green Road. yeah, we've had some funny moments together... One of them was thinking we'd missed the flight from Auckland to Christchurch, then rushing to the CORRECT terminal, only to find out that e flight was delayed for half an hour. that was when i knew the meaning of "a huge sigh of relief".

class starts on e 1st of June, really excited yet nervous at e same tym. still trying to adapt myself with e local customs here. n e food ar... haiyo let's just say i enjoy malaysian food so much more than e food here. my hostmum did try cooking asian dishes e 1st nite i got here, but it just can't compete with mum's cooking. *sigh* not forgetting to mention e jetlag i got after being on e plane for over 12 hours. man... must have looked like a zombie after that.

so yeah... i'm beginning a whole new life here, trying my best not to miss my family n frens back home too much. it's hard at 1st, but i trust dat He'll always be by my side. =P that's all for now. will blog more if i'm not too lazy. hehe. peace!

a dream come true

Hey again. I'm back in kch now for a few days this time. Yeah, it's finally time to make my passport, student visa, and bla bla stuff to get ready for my studies. Exciting yet scary at the same time.

Now then I realise how fun and interesting national serice turns out to be. Classes may be a lil boring, but I'll definitely miss all my friends and all the funny moments we had together. It's not surprising that I'd rather be there right now, not here blogging.

I'm also really sad that I won't be able to join the closing ceremony on the 27 of May. And also the remaining activities during the last week, which will probably be community service and trips. *sigh sigh*

Anyway, I really thank God that I was chosen for NS. if not, I wouldn't be able to know so many new friends and experience things that so many have not been able to enjoy. It truly is a blessing...

Greetings from Sibu

Hah. It's a miracle that I'm here ryt now typing a new post. My cousin(dearest) actually has internet connection!!! argh. Thank God soooo much.

Anyway, to all those who don't yet know, I'm on holiday from National Service. 3 days only. And I'd chosen not to go back to Kuching, but rather stay here in Sibu instead. Besides, I can jalan-jalan in Sibu and save quite a lot of money too.

Okay...how should I summarize National Service to me in less than a million words? Hmm. Let's see. I've made a gazillion friends from all around Malaysia, plus some other classmates whom I've lost contact with for years. It's funny how I think I'd hate making new friends here yet enjoyed so much chit chatting with new friends.

Marching for hours each day is of course inevitable. It's fun actually, provided the weather isn't hot. There's a drilling competition between company coming up soon, so I really hope that my company (BRAVO) will win this one. The food, as expected, is not as delicious as mum's cooking, but fortunately I'm okay with it. There are many activities planned for us, among them are jungle trekking, kayaking, water rafting, camping, flying fox, obstacle course, "kenegaraan" classes (super boring but that's where I met some ahem interesting frens), sports (basketball, netball, bola tampar, badminton, ping pong etc) and many others which will be carried out pretty soon. There's also lotsa presentations and competitions between classes and companies. Presentations are real fun coz that's when you can act, sing, or dance and wear nice costumes... and no matter how good (or bad) we performed, everyone gets a prize!

We Christians get to go to church every Sunday, and after that shopping around Wisma Sanyan until the bus arrives. Thank God also that the buses are air-conditioned. The only bad news is that we Ns trainees from Kem Bumimas have to wear our class uniforms to town. Explanation: class uniforms look hideous. I look like a postman wearing it. bleh.

phew. That's all for now. If you wanna know more, do feel free to ask me. hehe. To all those in Kuching (esp SFEC youths), I miss u all very much! God bless!